


Dynamics

by TWE



Series: Dynamics [1]
Category: Criminal Minds
Genre: Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics, It's going somewhere I promise!, M/M, Mating Cycles/In Heat, Medical Jargon, Omega Spencer Reid, Omega Verse, Slow Build, morgan/reid bromance
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-02-03
Updated: 2017-01-16
Packaged: 2018-05-18 01:21:28
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 13
Words: 17,911
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5892649
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TWE/pseuds/TWE
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A terrorist attack leaves Spencer Reid fighting with new changes in himself that before now were only found in really bad fiction and folklore. But how will the team react? And what will happen if the attack is repeated? Is it already too late?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. One step forward....

**Author's Note:**

> Inspired by a lot of work I'm reading at the moment that I totally found by accident. I promise it is going somewhere! And with half term coming up, I'm going to have more time to write (at least for a week.)
> 
> The bunny bit me a week ago, and I'm only now (mostly) happy with it to post it. Enjoy?

“Two months ago I was inadvertently contaminated with a lab created viral strain designed to attack a person’s genome and rewrite their genetic code. While I was getting coffee outside the Hoover building, there was a small attack; terrorists have claimed it though a small sect that is not even related to any Islamic faith or…”

 

One of the faces opposite Doctor Spencer Reid cleared his throat before the younger man could even think about beginning a tangent. They knew him too well, and after picking a speck of dust absently from his cotton shirt, Reid ran a hand through his hair to continue.

 

“The attack was biological. The fifteen of us inside the coffee shop were all tested and eleven of us were let go with no adverse effects. Of the remaining four, three of them were women who showed an increased physical sensitivity and heightened sense of smell while I….”

 

He paused, working his tongue around the inside of his teeth trying to feel the words he wanted to say. It was so much easier profiling and offering up information when it wasn’t his own.

 

“Go on, Agent Reid.”

 

“The biological agent seemed to specifically target myself and another gentleman. Which is why I know you called me in here; the other gentleman has now killed three people and you’re afraid of it happening to me. I have also undergone some physical changes, but I can assure you that I am no threat.”

 

“And how can you be so sure, Mr Reid?” Another face asked, leaning in against folded hands.

 

“Umm…it’s actually doctor, and I can be sure because whatever this biological agent actually was, it’s done something only seen in aberrant fanfiction on online and multimedia platforms. It created a…well…the easiest way is to say a third gender.”

 

Spencer Reid waited for a reaction. When he was greeted with disbelieving silence, he continued, recalling with clarity the files and forms he’d been shown when the medical doctors too had the same disbelief.

 

“In all culture there are two genders. In recent years a third gender, intersex, has been also thrown about but there are no true physical manifestations of this. Instead what the doctors are seeing is that some of the men are showing an almost aggressive and territorial nature, while others remain normal.”

 

“You mentioned a third. How many and what is it?”

 

“The third gender is a true intersex. Neither male or female though can work as both. It is still being studied, but one of the doctors has named the virus ‘the omega strain’. As for how many? Just the one has been affected by this third gender. Myself.”

 

He expected, and received three slightly disturbed gasps before he allowed himself to continue.

 

“There is nothing wrong outside if a male were to sleep with me apparently I would be able to produce a child. Outside this little side effect I am still Spencer Reid, and I am still able to carry out my duties. This other male, however, one of the ones showing an extra aggression, has been labelled ‘alpha’ and the others as ‘betas’ for a lack of anything else. The betas are unaffected, but could still carry the virus and are being monitored.

 

“I don’t know why I’m still here, but I would like to return to work now.”

 

There. He’d said it. Admitted it to the world, or at least to the group of three on the panel that could grant him access back to work. They all looked at him, as if trying to see the extra organs inside, or any mental problem that should prevent them from letting him back to work. Three genders from a simple biological attack.

 

“Is there anything you wish to add to your case, Mist---DOCTOR Reid?”

 

“Yes sirs, there is. The programmers of this virus, and the alpha are out there. I have not only my profiling and my team, but because of this omega strain I can also smell the others that have come into contact with the virus. I would be a boon to the effort to not only catch the new alpha killer, but to catch the terrorists behind the attack to prevent others in the country.”

 

That seemed to pique their interest; all three leaning in to discuss those final points both in an effort to make Reid uncomfortable while discussing the last point. They did in theory not only hold his life in their hands, but the lives of a lot of other people if this were to get out of hand.

 

“Thank you, Doctor Reid. You are dismissed.”

 

Reid collected his papers and headed to the door, the last thing he heard was that of the panel speaking and debating rather loudly.

 

“A three gender society is something that we cannot approve. The people wouldn’t accept it. You’ve seen how long it’s taken for Homosex---“

 

The heavy wooden door hissed shut behind him and Reid closed his eyes for a moment and took in a deep breath.

 

His friends were here, waiting for him. The same story he’d just told the panel he now had to tell them if they were ever to work together with some level of trust. After his addiction, this was going to be the most difficult conversation he’d ever had.


	2. Vanilla

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Spencer Reid wishes the mission were just a bad dream.....
> 
> At least he'd learning who his true friends are.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know the chapters are short at the moment, but there is the surprise that I'm writing at all. There are a couple of more chapters being edited at the moment. But being sick has given me a chance to catch up. Still, I swear it's going somewhere.

_Maturity, one discovers, has everything to do with the acceptance of “not knowing”_

**Mark Z. Danielewski**

 

 

Normal was something they knew they would never get again, but there was an unspoken truce about it all. The shocked looks and the soft gasps didn't escape Reid's attention as he got through the very basics of what he was, or at the very least what he was potentially becoming. Garcia's eyes seemed to water as she covered her mouth and listened to the story. In parts, it almost looked as if she were watching a puppy be kicked in front of her.

Morgan leaned against the closest wall, arms folded across his chest and face stern and unwaivering except for the flicker in his eyes like he was pulling apart another puzzle. Rossi took it with a grain of salt, leaning back in the high-backed chair as if he'd known all along this was meant to have happened. Both JJ and Emily shared a look but all of them let Reid finish before a single question punctured the air. 

 

"When do you want to start?"

 

The look on Hotch's face was unreadable, as always. Reid had often times seen glimmers of emotion flicker through when it came to his family and friends, but this time the perfect poker face, square jaw and tight thin lips remained so as those dark eyes pierced Reid's own. The undeniable need to look away under such scrutiny made him turn his eyes to the side before his head followed and considered the answer. The reason he'd come in the first place was to get back to normal, to get back on the team. How hard was it to say "right now"?

 

Reid breathed out a moment before looking at each of his team in turn.

 

"I've been cleared to start immediately."

 

 

 

New York was cold this time of year, but for some reason that hadn't bothered Reid in the slightest. During the day with the team it had been all about the business. Gathering the evidence, considering the profile with every new crime scene. And surprisingly, with the subtle changes to his body from the attack, Reid had even helped by identifying the one key that had unlocked an otherwise random killer. At each crime scene the smell was getting stronger and more obvious, but at the same time it took a stray memory to actually connect the smell to a word, or a name, and a prediction of where the UNSUB would attack next.

 

A baker.

 

A thirteen year old girl.

 

A therapist.

 

A male working at the perfume counter.

 

Each of them had something subtle, something that none of the others would have picked up and something that Spencer Reid, before _the incident,_ wouldn’t have been able to pick either. Vanilla was usually associated with warm memories, like the hug of a parent, or the sweetness of a treat given. The UNSUB had been choosing her victims due to the subtle scent of vanilla.

 

But this woman had an obviously twisted and dark memory, though on reflection there was no evidence in her recorded past. And when cornered, instead of choosing to tell (as a lot of women preferred to do to garner sympathy when cornered) she fought to the last moment. Knife out. Staring Spencer Reid down.

 

Instead, even with his gun pointed at her, she launched herself at Reid. Though instead of listening to his years of training he froze, drawing in a quick suck of a breath. Though to his credit, his arms didn’t shake and he didn’t jump when she knocked him to the ground, nor when Morgan shot her twice; once in the shoulder, once in the heart.

 

As she lay bleeding beside him, his head fell to look at her and she smiled, whispering six words that only the young doctor could hear.

 

Morgan pulled him to his feet, and it took several moments for Reid to realise that his friend was speaking to him.

 

“---u okay? SPENCER!”

 

“I’m fine….I’m….” He looked at her again, the signs of life gone. “I’m fine.”

 

“You’re pale. What did she say?”

 

“Nothing. I need to get out of here,” he finally made the decision, his body moving from where it was wrapped in his friends arms. The last thing to turn and head for the door were his eyes, stuck on the woman.

 

 

 

 

Aaron Hotchner watched everyone watching him. Curled up in a tight ball on the leather seats with a woollen vest on and his cardigan draped over the top of him; Spencer Reid was the picture of intelligent innocence and the talk of everyone on the plane under everyone’s breath.

 

“He doesn’t look any different. Didn’t act it either,” JJ finally said loud enough to catch everyone’s attention.

 

“That’s because he isn’t different. He’s still Doctor Reid,” Rossi replied to the others matter-of-factly. “The only people that have changed are us and our perceptions of him.”

 

Morgan sat back in the tall leather chair, bringing his hands to his chin and folded them under them, considering for a moment.

 

“Reid would probably tell us that there were native American tribes that used to accept and even celebrate a third sex. Transgender people were allowed to live as the other gender and were considered a god; a misplaced soul. We shouldn’t see him as different. Inside, that’s still Spencer Reid.”

 

That seemed to impress the others into silence. Words he was told a long time ago by someone while he was questioning himself and his future. While he could still not understand his friends position he could sympathise. It was like finding out your best friend was gay.

 

“And don’t forget,” Morgan finally added. “He did help solve the case.”

 

No one spoke for a long while, each caught in their own torrent of thought and emotion on the man they’d spent the last few years with. And then he kicked, just a little, causing those still watching him to jump in surprise. Reid’s skin glowed with an undercurrent of power and slick with sweat of obvious fever.

 

Snapping awake caused JJ to drop her drink and fall to her knees beside Reid’s seat.

 

“You were sleeping. Must have been a dream…”

 

Reid looked at each of his friends in turn before settling his eyes on Hotch and noticing the distinct way that the other man was definitely not looking back at him. It sent something cold running down his spine before a hand clapped him on the shoulder.  
  
“Fasten your seatbelt. We’re about to land,” Morgan muttered deceptively calmingly as he reached and put that belt back on for him. The heat coming off the boy was nothing short of 100. They’d have the medics on standby, he’d make sure of that.  
  
“You too, JJ.”  
  
Reid licked his lips, feeling impossibly dry as he looked back at the others still watching him carefully. He felt so under scrutiny, so uncomfortable. Like he didn’t belong back there at all. He should have kept quiet.

 

“Y-you all keep staring at me like I’m going to break and become the next unsub. I….I can promise you I’m not,” He put his head down, his hands fidgeting in his lap as he considered his next words.

 

“I’ve told you this before. I haven’t changed,” Reid’s voice was becoming laboured noticeably over the roar of the engines. Morgan leaned back over, arm across his back but Spencer pushed it away and shook his head. As it moved, hair began to clump and stick to his face.

 

The fever had come on so suddenly he didn’t realise what was happening until it was too late. His stomach tightened and spilled the last of what was in it onto the floor of the plane in front of him. His vision darkened and the last thing he remembered was the smell of vanilla and clove as darkness overtook him.


	3. Fever

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Still not read before being posted. But I do have more chapters already written. Being sick has certainly helped with the writing of things.

_A friend is someone who knows all about you and still loves you._

**Elbert Hubbard**

 

 

 

“You smell better than the others,” She’d said to him.

 

In his dreams those eyes went from blue to the pale white with the potassium breaking down in the lens. It was easier to justify her death and try and compartmentalise the feelings those words drummed up by remembering the medical reasons behind everything. Though it wasn’t working.

 

She had attacked those who liked vanilla. He never used the product, preferring the simple smell of plain soap on his skin. She was simply a sexual predator that hadn’t escalated. Perhaps she had chosen him to be her next victim, and now they would never know.

 

To his side he was vaguely aware of the cloves and vanilla scent that had driven her and now somehow called to him. In his dream he was aware that his body somewhere was still far too hot; a fever that was obviously too high to be safe.

 

Spencer Reid had practiced lucid dreaming before, and while he was only aware on the basic level that he was dreaming he hadn’t quite managed this time to control the dream. The world around him slipped between colour and black and white as he moved from outside with her to inside a building that was familiar but unfamiliar at the same time.

 

Ghosts and wisps of people brushed and moved passed him in a grey-white fog that only barely had the form of a human, and in the background electronic beeps and voices in a din set the tone for what was turning quickly into a nightmare.

 

Two steps forward was all it took for Reid to realise in his dream he was the only one in colour. Standing in front of what he could only describe as the magic mirror from the books his mother used to read to him, he could see both his reflection and that there was no reflection staring back at him at the same time.

 

As he moved, the image moved noticeably slower and not quite exactly the same.

 

“Clever.”

 

“Thank you,” the reflection replied before it reached out and pulled at his hand.

 

 

 

 

Spencer Reid woke just barely with a terrible headache and his hand in someone else’s. He didn’t remember dreaming, but as the consciousness returned he could hear himself saying something which caused the other person to tense a little and call unintelligibly to someone in another room.

 

His vision started as pinpricks and slowly the world opened until it became too bright to keep his eyes as wide as they were. The sound of the world was next, starting with the steady beep of the machine next to him, then of the quick footsteps of flat shoes beside and around the bed he was in.

 

Nurses, he guessed.

 

“---essed. He’s in distress. Diazepam. Please.”   
  
“NO!” another voice. A familiar voice. “He doesn’t take drugs like that. He’s waking up and he’s suffered enough trauma. Reid….can you hear me?”

 

The fussing continued around him, and the world kept adding layers until he was fully back in it. His body was on fire. His blood burned and yearned and more. He could feel the tension of every muscle in his body and smell the shampoo of everyone else in the room.

 

Reid heard himself speak, as if he were still floating in the back of his mind, though the words he made were still gibberish to his own mind.

 

“I’m here, Reid.” Came the reply, the hand wrapped back around his own. Hotch. Aaron Hotchner was at his bedside. He must have been dying, Reid thought. There was no other way that his boss would be missing work or his family to be here at his side while others were gone.

 

The touch sent another flare up his spine, and settled at the base of his brain.

 

“Fever is at 102. Any higher and his brain function will begin to degrade.”

 

The smell of cloves and vanilla again assaulted his senses.

 

“Spiking at 105.”

 

The hand in his own tightened.

 

“Fight it Reid.”

 

He was in hospital. He was sick. Again. But he didn’t feel that sick. The heat was more like sitting in the sun on an uncomfortably warm summer day. A dip in the pool or an ice-cream would make for the right cure to this. So why did the others around him seem to be panicking. He was okay.

“I’m fine, Hotch.” He finally managed to get out, though the alarms continued to sound their warnings around him.

 

“You don’t seem fine.”

 

“Just a little warm, that’s all.” The joke was lost on everyone fussing about him. He hated when they did that.

 

“You’ve been steady for the last three days and now everything is going wrong now you’re awake.”

 

“I said I’m fine,” Reid tried to sit up, only to have a firm hand plant itself on his chest and push him back to the bed.

 

“You’re not fine. Until this fever goes away, you’re staying.”

 

“But I….” If his eyes were open Hotch would have seen Reid’s eyes roll back into his head. For a moment, he swore he could feel just how hot the other man was and was the first to see and hear Reid’s last breath.

 

“Nurse?” He asked, looking around before calling out just a little louder. “NURSE?”

 

He looked back at Reid, adrenaline kicking in and demanding he do something. The moment that Reid’s hand gripped tight enough to leave little crescent marks in his skin and the younger man began to seize was the moment Hotch started to think that maybe his friend wasn’t coming back from this one.

 

It was a fleeting thought, followed up by the mental command of _Fight it, Reid_ , before the large nurse pushed the FBI agent back and began every procedural effort to save the young Doctor’s life.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I do apologise for the extremely slow build. Its being done deliberately. I do have a plan, honest. And I do have plans to get Hotch in on the action more.   
> Any problems, comments, queries or volunteers to help push I would be more than happy to take them. XD I might even do a Valentines double chapter special.....maybe.


	4. The puzzle

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The UNSUB is escalating. But everyone's worry is focused more on their missing member.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I wish I could write this faster. v.v

_There is more hunger for love and appreciation in this world than for bread._

**Mother Teresa**

 

 

 

The first thing he was aware of was the tingling in the ends of his fingers where they were connected to something warm and obviously pulsing. Moving just a twitch he could make out the barest hint of the finger pads and the softness of a well-manicured hand.

 

Then he heard it. A thump that sent a shock through his body. Deep between his ears and thick in his chest. Another thump. Then another. Pounding with each moment the touch continued. And just as quickly as he’d become aware of it, it was gone.

 

“Another Attack? How many?” he heard, clear as a bell. A phone must have rung or something, because there only seemed to be the one voice. A door clicked open, and the voice receded.

 

Reid’s mind was in overdrive the moment the door clicked. Another attack means there had to be a first one, and whoever it was that answered the phone – he couldn’t tell in the moments following sleep – that it was naturally something serious.

 

The connotation of _another_ meant that the current one was as serious if not more so than the first. The tone in the voice meant that it was close to whomever it was speaking and naturally had to be related to a case.

 

Another attack?

 

Reid’s mind went straight there. To the attack at the coffee shop. The smell of explosive and something sickly sweet like honey on the air. The sound of glass and the crunch of it underfoot and the sudden itch of his skin as the biological agent bonded itself to his cells from the skin down.

 

The idea that someone else had gone through that was heartbreaking to Reid, so much so he pushed against the undeniable need to just stay and the scream of his fever-aching muscles to sit upright. His head swam and lights danced before his eyes while the rest of the world remained blurred.

 

He should be out there, helping like he did with the case. Not laying back in some hospital bed with barely a gown and a sheet to cover him. He was stronger than this. Gideon would never have let him be satisfied with remaining on the sidelines.

 

Taking a deep breath to steady himself, another flare of heat wrapped itself around his spine as the vanilla and cloves that haunted his last memory filled his lungs. Whatever that smell was it was getting stronger too, and settling in a small part of his brain that demanded he find it.

 

One foot fell to the floor and then another. Each step more painful than the last as his conscious brain pushed him further to the door. A hand reached out, his shoulders colliding with the wall beside the door as the energy dropped with the success of crossing the private room. His fingers wrapped around the cold steel handle and all his effort when to pushing it down and pulling the door itself open.

 

“There is a report of a single casualty. Hispanic female, 12.” Hotch was relaying the message, though refraining from adding more detail. And while Reid heard the words, he cursed himself and the fact that it took longer than normal to process what the older man was saying.

 

Sitting, looking as if they hadn’t even left the hospital in days were Morgan, Jennifer and Garcia. Morgan looked especially tired, though sat at attention ready to do his job.

 

“The suspect is the _alpha_ ,” Hotch continued, simply to apprise the others of the situation. “He is escalating, carving a symbol on the neck of the young woman. Though because of his attachment to Reid, we have been asked to take a more advisory role for now.”

 

“Damn,” Morgan said, voice raw from lack of sleep and slung to with a pique of emotion. “Who does that to kids?”

 

“What about Reid?” Garcia asked, looking over the top of her glasses at the suited man and Hotch looked back to the door for a moment. There was a moment of surprise as those eyes fell upon Spencer as he used the wall still to hold him up; but it was quickly replaced with concern as he answered.

 

“Spencer Reid is back on Medical. This fever is related to the attack and the more we know about the physical reactions of those potentially affected by this biological agent, the better.”

 

Reid wasn’t sure whether or not to bite out an argument or simply accept the underlying command of it all. Neither were in his mind too long before the sudden happy squeal of his eccentric friend and her wonderfully comforting arms surrounded him.

 

“I’m okay, Garcia,” Spencer tried to say, though was grateful for the support she was showing.

 

Hotch on the other hand said nothing to him, not even scolding him for being out of bed before he walked from the waiting room into a more secluded part of the hospital, phone already poised for another phone call.

 

“We were worried,” Garcia muttered against his still clammy skin, holding him all the tighter.

 

“We thought we’d lost you for a minute,” Morgan piped up, shoulders back trying to look as unphased by this all as possible. JJ was the only one who didn’t speak, only offering a sympathetic look that told him he should still be in bed. The same sort of look Reid had seen her give her son more than once.

 

“What happened?” Reid found himself asking as he was ushered back into the room where that smell was ready to bombard his senses once again. Where was it coming from? Was it just in his brain?

 

“We don’t know. You were fine until after the case. And then your fever spiked and…” Garcia really didn’t have all the information, but Spencer was glad that she was at least trying. He knew the others were not going to be as forthcoming with the information while he was still in danger.

 

“You’ll be out of here tomorrow. They’re just monitoring you to make sure you don’t slip back into that fever,” Morgan finished for her, having been here from the moment Reid was loaded onto the Ambulance. “But they’re keeping that off the record.”

 

Spencer nodded, again his brain too sluggish to immediately interpret the words. Maybe bed _was_ a good idea for now.

 

“Can you keep me in the loop, at least?” Reid asked as Garcia and JJ both carefully manoeuvred Reid back into bed and tightened the covers around him. He would have rolled his eyes but he wasn’t sure he’d stay conscious for it. He’d felt this before.

 

“We’ll do our best,” JJ finally offered, taking his hand and giving it a soft, appreciative squeeze along with a motherly gaze.

 

“Just focus on getting back out there, Reid. The team ain’t the same without you.”

 

Morgan’s words washed over him with a cool calm he hadn’t felt since before going into the tribunal. The moment of true peace he was feeling was enough for his eyes to close as he leaned back and the pillow folded and cradled around his head and sleep came more bidden to his fragile form.


	5. Becoming

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Alpha escalates.

_People pay for what they do, and still more, for what they have allowed themselves to become._

**Edith Wharton**

 

 

The moment he saw it, Aaron Hotchner knew who the targets truly were. Carved in the crook of the young woman’s shoulder was the Greek letter omega with a small cross inside the loop. Her body from the scene photographs were of her on her knees with her hands straight out in front of her, posed almost like yoga.

 

“He’s beginning to try and embody his name,” Rossi murmured from behind, stepping in beside his friend before leaning to turn the girls head to the side.

 

“He’s searching for something. His perfect fit. An alpha looking for an omega. There were signs of sexual assault?” he asked, looking up just for confirmation. Hotch nodded once, his eyes not leaving the girl.

 

“Then he’ll be looking for the women involved in the attack. A true Omega.”

 

“There’s a second path,” Hotch interjected, not even sure why his mind demanded that he voice this.

 

“You think he might try and recreate the attack that created him?”

 

“There’s a possibility that he might try. The cross signifies that she wasn’t the omega he was looking for. We may find others until he decides what it is that he wants.”

 

“But why choose her?” Rossi asked, pointing to the body. “Why choose a teenage girl from a background not his own?”

 

Hotch had had the same thoughts before. Why would you choose a seemingly random girl? If Reid were here he might have had some insight just like the last case. But at the same time it was why he couldn’t be here at all, even if he was well. Too close. A conflict of interest.

 

“She’s young, so she wouldn’t have fought back. The lack of defensive wounds seems to suggest perhaps she wanted and actively participated until her death. The colour around her lips and eyes indicate she was strangled afterwards.”

 

“Aaron…..there’s a set of bite marks underneath the mark.”

 

Hotch waved over a paramedic and one of the photographers, meaning to send through the information to the lab. Every little piece brought them one step closer to catching the Alpha, and helping Reid in the process.

 

 

 

 

 

**12.37pm , Minneapolis, MN.**

Lunch time was almost over.

 

For the students of Olsen Middle School the crawl back up the stairs and into the halls of lockers in preparation of their next class. The din and squeak of students and shoes of the linoleum floor coupled with the short burst of the metallic bell signalled the routine that only a school could have.

 

As the second bell rang out and the silence settled over the buildings there was a peace.

 

Until the windows shattered outward from the sudden pressure of powder filling the top floor’s rooms. At first there was stunned silence, shock and awe. Then there was the sirens and constant sound of the schools bell.

 

It was disorderly havoc, all the students covered in different levels of what seemed to be ash.

 

Nightfall and dawn came before the last of the students were allowed to leave. Each had a blood test, and the paramedics looking after them. As the sun lifted high the FBI were finally called as they found the device and now dormant agent contained within.

 

“The dispersal made the strain less virulent. Seems like only 3% of the students that came into contact with the biological agent have suffered any effects beyond shock,” The sheriff began, giving the quick version to Rossi as they walked towards the main building.

 

“They seem to have an increased musculature, or increased testosterone production. Others have new sensitivity to different smells. Two were found attacking one another before the EMTs pulled them out,” The last words from the LEO made Rossi stop in his tracks and look at his face.

 

He could see in just a quick profile the Sheriff had a child attending the school and was possibly the first on the scene. The red in his eyes and the pained squint indicated the other was still deep in thought.

 

“Was it your son caught fighting?”

 

“Daughter,” The other admitted, a look of shame crossing his face.

 

“We want to interview the ones that have changed. They will need to be put under supervision; the last attack has left some unwell,” The orders flowed easily as David Rossi put himself into agent mode and surveyed the scene.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this one is so short. Working on moving at the moment while still writing new lessons with the new curriculum coming in. 
> 
> ARGH! 
> 
> Anyone want to help? Or Beta/inspire me? (Or Alpha/inspire? LOL)


	6. The Rise

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Reid is finally both losing his mind and getting it back and he might not be the only one.

_Patience is not an absence of action; rather it is “timing”; it waits on the right time to act, for the right principles and in the right way._

**Fulton J. Sheen**

 

 

“New York and Minnesota. The attack escalated to a larger scale, and on a younger demographic. Why?”

 

Morgan had been staring at the photos for hours now, trying to piece together a puzzle that didn’t seem to fit. Against the orders of his boss who was still following up the latest attack, he now sat in front of a wheelie whiteboard at the end of Reid’s bed, his hand casually on his friend’s knee.

 

“Show me the pictures of the omega attack again?” Asked Reid, the tumblers in his brain working on clicking and unlocking the motive. While he was stuck staring at the same four walls for the last four days, Morgan had been his saving grace. The fever still sat at 102 but his mind felt clearer than it had since the incident over a week before.

 

The board flipped over to the pin board on the back, holding pictures of the poor girl and the vivid brand carved into her skin. Reid forced himself to keep looking instead of looking away.

 

“The UNSUB went from older people in a coffee shop to a young girl and now there’s the attack in the school. What if they’re not individual attacks? What if there isn’t a terrorist group, and it’s in fact this one man. This _Alpha_?”

 

“Why would he attack children, Reid? Connecting the two is outside a logical profile.”

 

Reid looked at his hands for a moment, eyes closing as his mind rearranged the pieces out before him. There was something obvious they were all missing.

 

“In the stories, the Alpha is always looking for the Omega they are made for to mate with and procreate. It’s an instinct, a drive to completion. If it’s just the Alpha….” Spencer breathed out, running a hand through his hair before looking up, hoping that his friend could fill in the words he was loathe to say.

 

Morgan wasn’t quite on the same train of thought as Reid and could only raise an eyebrow.

 

“He doesn’t want to be alone. It wasn’t a group responsible for the attacks. It was him. He was already an Alpha before the attack began and now he wants to make more. If he can’t find his omega he’s going to create more.”

 

“Which means,” Derek finally started, tension clear now in his body and in the tone of his voice. “The Alpha is still in Minnesota and searching.”

 

The phone was out in a blink, and Morgan was stepping outside to make that call, leaving Reid alone. He flopped back onto his pillows, staring up at his ceiling. It had been days since he smelled what had quickly become his favourite smell; the vanilla and cloves. It made him feel almost sad and lethargic not having it nearby.

 

But still the warmth of the fever overwhelmed him. While he’d become used to it, it still hadn’t gone away, and now it settled in his belly like a good soup on a winter day. Leaning back against the pillow, Spencer let his mind wander to where everyone was right now; yes, Morgan was outside but where were Rossi and Hotch? Were Prentiss and JJ still outside?

 

For a moment his hand didn’t care, sliding down his body almost like it was walking with his fingers, and lifted the gown up. His fingernails stroked the sensitive skin at the inside of his thigh, causing a gasp to catch in the back of Reid’s throat. The heat seemed to spike again for him as he remembered how the vanilla and cloves made him feel.

 

Fingers raked higher, until they brushed against the coarse hair of his balls. The soft moan that slipped from his lips was both welcome and came with a name on his lips that Spencer couldn’t recognise. All he knew is that the heat in him jumped and he snatched his hand away. He was sick, it wouldn’t pay to make it worse. What the hell was he thinking?

 

He shivered, pulling the blanket higher onto his chest before folding his arms underneath it carefully as to not dislodge the drip poking out of his arm. The now regular hum of the machine beside him and the stoic beeping of the monitors were like white noise and soon his eyes drifted closed.

 

 

 

 

 

“We need to check the hospitals where the students were taken. Morgan thinks the UNSUB is still close and looking for _his omega_ ,” Were it not for his years of training, Hotch would have spat the words. There was something about someone _claiming_ ownership of another life that made him sick to his stomach. It was part of the reason he got into law enforcement in the first place.

 

Rossi simply nodded and headed to the local LEO, passing on the instructions while Hotch walked through the small office they’d procured covered with the images and information. If this alpha was looking for his Omega then perhaps Spencer was this person the Alpha truly wanted.

 

His friend had all but come out as an Omega. Had been hunted down by a….

 

“You look like you have a profile,” Rossi made comment, having returned to see the twisted face of a Hotch in thought. The smile was reassuring on his lips, but didn’t strike his long-time friend immediately.

 

“The Alpha we’re hunting is connected to the woman shot dead before Reid was taken to hospital. There might be a connection there; and they’re looking _for_ Reid. They want their Omega. And so far the only obvious Omega that’s been created from these attacks has been Spencer.”

 

“So you want to use the good doctor as bait, Aaron?” Rossi asked, more as a joke to diffuse the tension, though that aim backfired when he saw a flash of anger pass behind those dark eyes.

 

“Go see him”

 

“See who, Dave?” He knew exactly who. When Morgan had called he hadn’t said anything about how Spencer was doing, and maybe he’d been taking that personally. This reaction was something that Rossi had noticed on more than a few occasions in the past when the younger agent was in danger, but especially so now.

 

“I’ll hold the fort here. The others are coming….Go.”

 

Aaron looked at him bewildered for a moment. Had his friend been profiling him and his relationship with his co-workers this long? He didn’t care for Reid more than the others, Spencer just seemed to be in a position right now to need more careful attention.

 

“I’ll wait for the others before I leave. I’m going to interview some of the victims.”

 

Anything to get himself away from the scrutinising eyes of his friend.


	7. Well Shit...

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Spencer is REALLY in the thick of it, after coming out of the thick of it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> While I am sure people are definitely not interested, this is what happens when I'm sick and stressed. It's late (I have been updating this almost weekly) and that was because of the two days not actually in the house because... hospital. And I'm moving this weekend, so I can't promise a new chapter but maybe a little side something. then it's the beginning of two glorious weeks away from snotty teenages making me sick in the first place~ so almost a win win. But....Sorry.

_Give a man a mask and he will show his true face._

**Oscar Wilde**

 

 

The moment Spencer was able to get his hands on a laptop and his medical forms he went looking for internet and any news that he may have missed or that others were trying to hide from him.

 

First it was his charts; the moment he could keep his fingers still enough and away from the spots on his body that demanded attention enough to make him moan he was slicking through the pages of readings and tests they’d taken since he’d arrived days ago.

 

His temperature had spiked the day before, but was now steadily falling and sitting just warmer than the normal average. Being what he was now, that was to be expected; the stories and anecdotes that he’d read on the internet and in his history books had mentioned something about a heat.

 

As he thought about it a little deeper, Spencer’s hand slid down his body. He bit back a gasp as he leaned back and stroked across his sensitive balls but let his fingers creep lower. For science, he admonished mentally, Reid let his digits pull themselves across his perineum and to his warm hole.

 

To his surprise there was a slick, thin and sticky substance coating his fingers the moment he pressed even just barely. Something he hadn’t noticed before now. It seemed all the stories were true and that this secondary gender came with its own quirks and pitfalls.

 

He resisted pressing his fingers back in him more, the warmth in his stomach turning cold from it not being his alph---

 

Reid closed his eyes, removing his hands from anywhere near those parts of him again. He was Spencer Reid, multiple doctor and member of the BAU, not some label in a mindless want.

 

His computer beeped and instantly connected. The sounds of soft music and fast typing quickly caught his ears and he turned the laptop to face him. All sense of previous embarrassment forgotten now that he had company.

 

“And how is the patient doctor?” She asked, bubbly and slicking around the springy pink feathered pencil

 

“Garcia,” He smiled, a small smile, but a smile none the less. The woman at the other end mirrored the smile. “I’m fine.”

 

“Good. Two things: The boss man is on his way to see you. And second I’ve emailed you a set of photos from the crime scenes. But don’t tell him,” She winked into the camera and flashed a brighter smile.

 

“Why is he coming back?”

 

“Because like the rest of us, sweet one, we’re worried about you. Rossi wants to see if you notice something they’ve missed. You’re the expert in this.”

 

“Thanks,” Reid nodded, clicking open the files. He wasn’t sure why he disliked her reminding him that he was different now, even though he had been the one to tell his colleagues.

 

He saw the bite marks underneath the obvious cuts immediately. She was chosen as a mate and failed for whatever reason.

 

“Garcia, do you have a blood workup on the first victim?”

 

“Sure, I’ll send that through to you now.”

 

He was about to open them as the handle on the door pressed down and the metal lock pressed open with pressure from the other side. With a quick snap and a discreet shove, the laptop was no longer on a lap but under his pillow as he straightened himself up and prepared for whomever it was on the other side.

 

Before he’d even seen who it was there was a….

 

Reid didn’t know the word for it; though it licked around his mouth and settled at the front of his tongue it didn’t fall.

 

“Spencer?”

 

“Hotch. Hi,” he managed, offering what seemed to be the hundredth smile today. Reassuring others was something he had learned to do early on with his mother. That, and he really wanted to be back out in the field and working.

 

“How are you feeling?” his boss asked, taking a seat on the bed with more familiarity than he expected from the unit chief when he usually kept a certain distance.

 

“Better. Ready to be out of here.”

 

“Are you really?”

 

Neither man said anything about the appearance on his hand on Reid’s knee. The way it so very barely squeezed sent a wave of heat straight up Reid’s spine and caused the younger man the need to remember Derek’s poker lessons and not give away just how good that felt.

 

He couldn’t have been happier that he was no longer connected to a heart monitor.

 

“I want to be back at work,” Reid managed, keeping his voice even. It was working if the other man was anything to go by.

 

“Good, because there’s been another attack. A school in Minneapolis.”

 

The hand moved away, and the doctor couldn’t help but feel disappointed to lose the touch. The heat backed down at its loss.

 

“How many casualties?”

 

“None. But there have been….”

 

“Changes like mine?” Reid asked, holding his breath. More omegas. Students and children being targeted. It was hard enough as an adult to deal with the additional gender, but explaining to teenagers?

 

“Fortunately no additional omegas have presented. Some more Alphas, but it seems like you are still the only one.”

 

While the relief was there it was short lived. He had to look through the files now, to get all the information. There was something wrong about this attack. Like it was disjointed somehow and didn’t belong to the original attack.

 

Sheepishly, Spencer reached back and pulled out his laptop, looking through the case photos and information to at least be on almost the same page as his friend and boss.

 

Aaron Hotchner had always been fascinated watching Reid work. The way he could almost see the cogs slipping into place and turning the picture almost like a Rubik’s cube until it was complete. He could see the glow of the younger man’s skin and the furrow of his brow. The way those brown eyes danced over the screen were a distraction in of themselves.

 

“The Alpha was not in Minnesota. There were no Omegas created, so it was a different strain of whatever infected me. More potent, but…different enough,” Reid took another breath before bringing up the picture of the first girl.

 

“The notes of yours that Garcia sent me,” oops, “The Alpha _is_ looking for his Omega. The bloodwork on her shows she was infected with the same strain of virus I was but it hadn’t taken hold of her system. She…would have smelled like an omega but might not have been showing the outward signs of being one. This angered the Alpha and caused him to kill her in his disappointment. The Mark may have been what fiction calls a ‘mating mark’, one that is designed to break the glans,” Reid stroked his neck where he imagined his own would be.

 

Where his fingers trailed, goosebumps followed and his eyes lidded a little. A quick breath caught in his throat before he gathered himself back up enough to continue.

 

“But the additional mark is post mortem, as if he’s crossing off people on a list. This girl may have been known to the Alpha. I also think that this man was an Alpha _before_ he came to the coffee shop. He may be patient zero: the one that the new viruses are based from.”

 

Spencer lifted his eyes to Hotch, realising he had spoken too long.

 

“So you think that there are two parties involved?” Hotch asked, taking in everything, including the effect of the touches Reid had inadvertently given himself. What he hadn’t noticed was just how closely he had been watching.

 

“They’re not working together, but they’re related,” Reid nodded again and sucked in another deep breath. That smell, vanilla and cloves and musk was so strong it was almost making him drunk on it. That’s what the smell was, the same one right at the start that had made his head and heart pound.

 

“So we pursue the Alpha?” Hotch asked.

 

“The Alpha will turn serial. The others are terrorists,” Reid surmised as his brain screamed at him.

 

_Shit. That smell is Hotch._


	8. Direction

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Reid lays down the law.....as he knows it. New cogs are turning.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much for the support over hte last week. I am still sick, and still moving (Leave the house for good Wednesday.) 
> 
> I have decided I really do need a beta reader too. Because I've just reread some of what I have and it is not good. LOL
> 
> but the moment I move, I am going to sit and write out at least 3 more chapters because I am TOTALLY in that kind of mood. I just have a 5 hour drive home first. 
> 
> If there's anything in this chapter that doesn't make sense, please let me know.

_There are nights when the wolves are silent and only the moon howls_

**George Carlin**

 

 

 

“I knew it was you the moment I set my eyes on you. I could smell it before you could. You held a cinnamon roll and a black coffee but there was more to you. I watched them take you away in the back of that ambulance. You were already starting the heat. The heat I made for you.

 

“I know who you are. I know what you do. The chase is what we live for. What you will live for now I am no longer the only one. You will be my obedient omega. The first one made, and made for me.

 

“I will make you need me, and beg with lust until there is not---“

 

“ **Stop** ,” Hotch commanded, taking a deep breath and sigh through his nose that only barely hid the fact that his teeth were grinding and it was taking all his effort not to let his eyes close.

 

“It goes on like that for a while,” JJ piped in, taking the simple piece of thick paper from Reid’s hands and folding it neatly back into the unmarked envelope in which it had arrived.

 

For Spencer, it was one thing to know that his week in hospital had been due to a heat, it was another for someone else taking credit for his new biology and demanding to become his mate. He had spent the last week in his apartment reading over every case note and lore on the double genders before arriving at work this morning to this.

 

His clear eyes lifted to Hotch. The small part of him that now recognised the deep seated attraction to the scent of his boss also craved a little reassurance from him despite consciously knowing this was simply ridiculous.

 

“Any news about the school?”

 

Emily took that  as her cue to step forward, forcing all eyes on her and Reid was grateful for the distraction. As she spoke, Reid was going over in his head all the permutations and all the stories to try and construct something simple to explain away the smell he was being surrounded by just being in the same room as Hotch.

 

If it were because Hotch were infected too, surely that would mean that his friend would be able to smell him too. If the smell was as good for him as it was for Reid, that would mean Hotch was an Alpha, and the stories that he’d read and all the information that he’d gathered pointed to the fact that Alphas craved Omegas. Especially in heat.

 

So why hadn’t Hotch done more than touch him with the familiarity of family rather than of a prospective lover? Why did that thought leave Reid feeling cold, confused and…. _disappointed._ Spencer had never been a sexual being, in his mind, preferring to consider himself asexual simply because attraction distracted from the work that he did.

 

“Of the 2072 students at the Olsen School, less than 10 percent have had a genetically identifiable change. Of that 10 percent, none share the markers found in Reid. Most have a marker found in the alphas from the first attack and have become stronger, more sensitive to smell but they don’t seem to have presented in the same way that the adults did in the original attack.”

 

“You said most, not all,” Rossi spoke, and Reid noticed for the first time that those eyes were not on the speaker but on him. It sent a cold spiral down his spine that settled in the pit of his stomach.

 

“Of the ones that don’t tag as Alpha, they are carriers but not changed.”

 

“What does that mean?” JJ asked, face contorted in confusion.

 

“Betas,” Reid finally spoke, adding to the conversation.

 

“What are they?” Morgan finally let his presence be known from the place where he leant against the doorframe to the conference room. Arms folded over his chest, shirt holding tight to all the right places. If anyone was an Alpha in here it would be Morgan, Reid surmised idly in his brain, before realising he should be adding to the conversation.

 

“A _Beta_ is just what you might think,” he began, forming the words in the front of his mind to keep it as simple as possible.

 

“A Beta does not change. They do not _present_ , as Emily said,” Odd that the woman would use that word, so apt given the situation.

 

“Instead they are carriers always of the genes. They are ‘normal’ for the lack of a better word. Alphas are strong, resilient, smart, cunning. Hunters, almost. Pack leaders,” Reid swallowed as his eyes flicked along Hotch’s body, though he managed to keep his face from showing the quick flash of his own hunger as he thought about Hotch the Alpha.

 

“They are the protectors. Omegas are…mothers. They are breeders, or seen to be. In some mythology they are a prize to be had. Rare. But perfect. They go into heat and they breed the strongest and fittest if copulation with an Alpha takes place. Because Betas don’t or _can’t_ react with an Omega, relationships are normal.”

 

“You’ve certainly done your homework,” Morgan chided, flashing a smirk as he pushed from where he was leaning. 

 

“I’m an Omega. I…” Reid swallowed. “When I was in hospital I _was_ in heat. It’s why I was so sick. I was waiting for an Alpha,” he rolled his eyes, the scientist in him not wanting to believe still that any of this were even remotely true.

 

“But most are Alphas the strain has mutated. The chances of there being no Omega presenting from the latest attack should be non-existent. At least one, statistically two should have appeared through the testing.”

 

“All the students present were tested,” one of the girls replied beside him as Reid himself looked at the desk to better think without distraction. The vanilla musk touched his fingers and travelled up his arm to his nose and in a moment there was nothing but white light. A soft gasp fell from his lips before his head snapped up.

 

“What about the teachers?”

 

JJ flicked through the paperwork closest to her.

 

“There are no results for the staff.”

 

“It’s most likely going to be a woman, 20s to 30s. Prime breeding age,” Spencer said, matter-of-factly before looking at each of his team in turn and excusing himself with a mutter. He all but ran from the office to the bathroom, locking himself in and splashing cold water on his face before he looked at his reflection.

 

His pupils were dilated.

 

His lips were pinking again, and bigger as if he’d chewed them.

 

The colour in his face had drained and the sight of his tongue dancing out to wet his lips made him think of Hotch kissing him.

 

While he wasn’t in heat, part of him still recognised those feelings inside him. The change had brought upon his sexual maturity, it had seemed, like a switch had been flicked.

 

“Focus…” He told himself, breathing in through his nose and out through his mouth as he splashed more cold water onto his face.

 

Reid jumped as the knock at the door shook him from his reverie.

 

“Reid. You okay, man?” Morgan asked through the door.

 

Spencer swallowed, looking down at himself and begging the half erection he had to go away. Though instead he carefully adjusted it enough to be hidden from view unless someone deliberately looked.

 

Reaching with his left hand he grabbed some paper towel, dried his face and binned it before unlocking the door. The direct eye contact he made with his friend demanded he was confident and unwavering as he spoke.

 

“I’m fine.”

 

“Look, Spencer. You don’t need to be back so soon. It’s been a rough time. For all of us. Hotch’s wife, you in hospital, these attacks…it’s okay to show you need some time, you know?”

 

Reid nodded, letting his shoulders fall.

 

“I just need to get back to a routine. I can do this.”

 

“But it’s okay if you can’t. Come over tonight. We can have pizza and chat. We haven’t really had a chance to since you went inside,” Morgan grinned at his own little joke. Neither of them really liked hospitals that much, considering them jails for the sick and stupid.

 

Spencer nodded again, and opened his mouth to speak before a shout interrupted them.

 

“They found another woman. Same marks as the first. The _Alpha_ is back. And he’s left a note this time.”


	9. From bad.....

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A little bit of too up close and personal for Hotch's liking. (Yes, I am aware these are vague. Don't hate me.)

_The question isn’t who is going to let me; it’s who is going to stop me._

**Ayn Rand**

 

 

It was one thing to see the crime scene photos, it was another to see it in person. Reid balked almost before he’d even seen the body just from the pungent odour that permeated the air around them.

 

The others didn’t seem to notice.

 

He steeled himself, detached his emotions as he’d learned to do years before and stepped past the yellow tape to where Rossi and Hotch now knelt beside the body. With a careful finger, he turned her head to the side and Reid had to slap a hand over his mouth to keep from retching.

 

“Yo, Reid…” The touch at his shoulder was meant to be comforting, but the moment Morgan’s fingers were on him he pulled away as if burned. Were it any other person, he was sure they would be hurt, but he’d explain to Morgan later. Right now he simply couldn’t.

 

Stepping forward, the younger agent moved in beside Rossi, and let his eyes roam over the mark. It was so different to be here. So much that was different. He snapping on a pair of gloves, he stroked the bite mark and again choked.

 

The second time it happened he didn’t see the two new sets of eyes on him rather than the body.

 

“Reid?” Rossi asked, watching the boy.

 

“This woman was one of the teachers from the Olsen school. In a week she developed glans, was manipulated into coming over, went into heat, was mated and then killed by the Alpha. The scent is too strong for anything else,” Reid paused, but only to take another deep breath. Not once did he take his eyes off the cut marks in her neck.

 

“He’s a lust killer; part of his mating ritual is the kill after breeding. This might be because he considers his victims a weak version of what he is actually looking for. Working his way through the Omegas that turn but eventually don’t offer him a challenge.”

 

“The glans are broken, which both lets other Alphas and Omegas know that they are mated by a change in scent. That scent is all over here… excuse me.”

 

Both the senior agents were surprised when Reid stopped talking to run behind a tree, losing what little was in his stomach. It was Morgan who came up behind him, blocking the sight from the rest of the different Law Enforcement Officers in the area.

 

“Looks like we have our profile,” Rossi muttered to Hotch, who’s eyes were locked on the tree Reid was now behind.

 

“Something else on your mind?” Dave asked, covering the woman’s body.

 

“She was thirty. A humanities teacher. She was going to be married. How did she end up out here? We need to find the other missing teachers from the school.”

 

“Spencer is an Omega,” Rossi surmised what was going on through his friends brain. “And sooner or later they are going to come for him. The Alpha knows his name. These might even be messages to Reid.”

 

“We are going to stop him,” Hotch near growled.

 

“We’re looking for a white male. Mid to late 30s. I seem to remember you telling me that even if it’s personal, it doesn’t change how we look for this UNSUB. We also need to make sure that the ATU stop another attack that creates more of these…”

 

“Omegas.”

 

“I was going with victims, but yes. Reid is going to be the last one.”

 

Hotch kept his jaw tight as he stood and moved to the paramedic, whispering instructions. The young woman nodded and set about cleaning up the body while Hotch returned to the SUV to breathe.

 

The air in here was different. More sterile in a way. He hadn’t noticed it at any other crime scene. Certainly not from the first one. Maybe it was just seeing Reid so distraught, so different now that he was back?

 

The sight of Morgan with his hand still casually stroking Reid’s back behind that tree out of the corner of his eye was enough to make his grip white knuckled on the steering wheel before he closed his eyes and willed himself to calm.

 

“Come on….Home is only a couple of hours from here. We can sleep, eat popcorn and relax. They’re showing reruns of the Three Stooges.”

 

Reid just nodded, turning to look at his friend who had somehow magicked a bottle of water into his hand and now offered it to the distraught, much thinner man.

 

“Thank you.”

 

“Any time,” Morgan replied honestly, flashing a smile that lit up his face.

 

 

 

 

 

The chirping of his phone stole Aaron Hotchner from his reverie. His empty house surrounding him like an emotionless tent. His son was staying with his aunt while the case continued, as he did every time, so the echo of his phone was just that much louder to his ears.

 

With a yawn hidden behind his hand, he opened the phone without looking at who it was.

 

“Hotchner.”

 

“He won’t ever be yours.”

 

The voice was unfamiliar. Perhaps it was a wrong number from some boyfriend misguided enough to threaten someone.

 

“Excuse me?” Hotch managed, thinking he sounded calm but knowing that sometimes people don’t hear him the same way.

 

“The Omega. He won’t be yours. I’ll claim him before you even know to.”

 

That brought Hotch’s hackles up, his jaw tight and his grip causing the casing of the phone to groan under the new added pressure.

 

“How do you know about him?”

 

“You’re a smart man. Say my name.”

 

“Alpha,” Hotch felt his jaw tighten again.

 

“Very good. I’m only practicing, you see. For him. Male Omega are more satisfying. Their bodies are _made_ to take an Alpha knot. And he will take mine. He is the prize, the trophy for the others.”

 

 _Hell_ , Hotch thought to himself, _there are other Alphas like him?_

“The Anishinaabe have told stories of him for a long time.”

 

“You seem to enjoy talking about conquests you do not have,” Hotch finally managed, interrupting the prideful man at the other end. Hearing the voice for real against his ear simply made it all the more worse for his recently intensifying emotions.

 

“But Spencer Reid is the strongest person of all of us. Omega or not, he will not be yours to take. Come if you must. Try. He will never be yours.”

 

In a moment that Hotch would later reflect to be completely out of character, instead of pressing the large red button he threw the phone across the room with a sharp grunt and smiled almost pleased when it almost exploded with a sickening crack just below the portrait of his son hanging on the wall.

 

Reid was a member of the FBI, and one of the smartest people he had ever known. He’d know enough to fight against whatever implanted instinct there was now he was something _more_ than human.

 

He partly agreed with the man that there was something almost perfect about the kid now. There was a new confidence; he was standing differently but not a bad different. The sensitivity at the last crime scene was something he did need to talk to Reid about, but he was still compassionate and had been a boon on the investigation.

 

In fact Hotch was sure now that Reid truly _was_ the key. But he didn’t want to put the younger man in danger. There was something new there, something that called to him to be possessive now they’d almost lost Reid a second time.

 

Perhaps it was losing Haley that had opened him up to this new protective need?

 

His newly broken phone chirped from the pieces on the floor and Hotch reached down to pick it up.

 

Through the cracks in the screen a solitary message appeared.

 

_You are not the Alpha he needs. I will kill you before claiming him._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I have moved, and I have been doing marking, I've had a break and somehow managed to get sick again, so I am NOT pleased. Thank you though to all of you who have been sending supportive comments and for the kudos. I open my email every day and it's so nice to see. I will be archiving some more stories over the next few days.   
> Might even have a side story for this one written while I (inevitably) get bored marking all the things.Teachers don't get holidays, they just get time where they don't need to go into work to DO work.
> 
> Much love.


	10. Changing my Religion

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Those bastards just keep pushing.....

_All I want to be, all I ever want to be is somebody to you._

**The Vamps**

 

 

 

He wasn’t sure when he actually noticed he wasn’t sleeping, but when he did he pulled himself from the bed that Morgan kept spare and padded his way into the kitchen. Fumbling for the glass, Reid half filled it with water and looked out the window at the half-risen moon and the pinpricks of stars that barely shone over the light from the street lamp close by.

 

“You’re up early.” Morgan muttered from the couch, fingering the half-drunk beer placed on his knee.

 

“Can’t sleep.”

 

“Because of what happened at the crime scene?” He asked, patting the space beside him. Reid cradled the glass and moved in beside him, sitting with a heavy-hearted sigh.

 

“I’ve never done that,” Reid started, sipping at the water to hide the fact his hands were shaking from the memory of it. “The smell was so strong and I couldn’t stop it.”

 

“No one’s mad at you, Spencer.”

 

The younger turned his eyes into his glass as Morgan’s hand reached across and stroked calmly over his shoulder.

 

“No one but me,” he admonished, pushing fingers through his otherwise unruly mop of hair. He was still _very_ angry.

 

“What did it smell like to you?” Morgan finally asked. The one thing that had really struck him when Reid had first told him about being an omega, the increased sense of smell had been something that stuck the most. Always having been a sensual himself, he was more than a little envious of the other man. He hadn’t been expecting Reid to answer.

 

“First there was this…not quite a smell, but a flavour on the air. I knew she was another Omega just from it. And then there was this….bitter, acrid smell that burned inside. She was mated but the mating didn’t take. She’d been knotted and made to submit….I think mating with an Alpha has to go both ways for it to work.

 

“She was dead. But she was pregnant. I could smell that too. It could have been a lot of things. But all I could think about was is that what is going to happen to me?”

 

“I won’t let it,” Morgan replied, pulling his arm fully around Reid to tug the other man closer to him.

 

“I don’t think that’s a promise you can keep, Derek,” Reid admitted, reaching and placing the drink on the coffee table before leaning back into the embrace. Underneath the thin shirt, he could hear Derek’s even heartbeat, and below the scent of the usual aftershave that could only be Derek Morgan there was a sweet and comforting scent of male. Of Friend. Of not a threat and not an Alpha.

 

Reid didn’t know how he’d gone this long without that familiarity around him. It was much warmer and less sterile than the hospital and their staff. This was a man who’s only fault was being too good a friend.

 

“Challenge accepted,” Morgan breathed into his hair, and he could feel the larger man’s eyes close as he said it. It made Reid smile for the first time honestly since his change.

 

“Has Hotch changed his soap lately?”

 

If he’d been drinking at the time, Morgan was sure he would have choked on the question, instead his mouth went dry as he tried to work out what Reid actually wanted. Why was he asking?

 

“Like….sweet vanilla something?”

 

“Can’t say I noticed, but you’re the one with the super nose.”

 

Reid didn’t look up, but he didn’t have to for Morgan to notice the wetting of his lips in an absent gesture. He’d seen it happen a few times before with women he dated, or women that wished dated him. But instead of bringing up his observation he stopped and held just that much closer.

 

He’d use it for fodder later.

 

For now he’d be the comforting presence that Reid obviously wanted without forcing him on him.

 

“I think being turned Omega may have also….opened a door to homosexuality.”

 

“Opened a door?” Morgan asked with raised lilt in voice and eyebrow.

 

“I never liked anyone before. I thought I might have been gay when I was younger but I was never really attracted to anyone.”

 

“But now you’re smelling Hotch as sweet and you have a male Alpha chasing you and threatening to turn you into his sex slave and it’s got you….worried?”

 

Reid nodded. That was it in a nutshell.

 

“Spencer, you are not going to be in _that_ position again,” Morgan knew that everyone would know what that position was. Between the drugs and the hurt and Tobias Hankel put into Reid, it was all the more reason to fight for him.

 

“Even if your sexuality has changed, you’re still going to be Spencer Reid. FBI Special Agent, Doctor of everything and my best friend.”

 

That last bit caused Reid to snap his head back and meet those eyes even across the darkness between them. The smile that appeared, as short a time as it was there, was bright and brilliant.

 

“Thanks, Morgan.”

 

“Plus, if you do end up a sex slave, it won’t be a nameless Alpha. You’ll find some way to get Hotch into bed. Since he smells so sweet now…”

 

_Bastard._

 

 

 

 

 

At 9.30pm Rossi had received the call he didn’t think he wanted.

 

At first he had been worried about what it might have been about. Hotch before he’d even asked had simply told him what the Alpha had told him. The anger that followed down the line wasn’t his friend at all.

 

By 10.30pm, David Rossi had taken his car, picked up his friend and taken him down to the hospital. He’d taken the blood test with Hotch if for no other reason than to show some level of solidarity for his friend and now, two hours later, the wait was getting to be a little ridiculous.

 

Hotch paced up and down the waiting room, fists clenching and unclenching in unspoken frustration while Rossi, who had been on his first date in weeks, sat watching him with a little more amusement on his face to balance the worry written all over Hotch’s.

 

“It will take as long as it takes, Aaron. Now sit down.”

 

Hotch reached for his gun, a move that Rossi did not miss. But was grateful that only one of them was packing and it wasn’t Aaron Hotchner.

 

The usual stoic gentleman had been overtaken by an almost teenage mentality, fuelled by testosterone and the need for revenge, and goaded by a nameless man at the other end of a phone. Whatever that Alpha had said had rattled Aaron’s very foundations, enough that they were sitting in an almost empty hospital waiting for emergency blood test results. On both of them.

 

It wasn’t hard to see that Aaron was going over the same words in his head, the same story as Rossi was. Profiling was sometimes a double-edged sword that cut very deep and very fine to the heart.

 

Somehow they’d ended up in a staring contest so deep that neither of them noticed the nurse until he cleared his throat in the doorway.

 

“Agent Rossi, Agent Hotchner. We have the results of your blood work and I think you should get everyone who came into contact with the last crime scene you were at.”

 

“What was it you found?” Dave asked, standing to put himself between Hotch and the young Nurse, trying for a calming and reassuring smile. Hotch had to listen, and had to be ready to listen.

 

“Well, sirs….it seems you both have what you said would be there. Almost.”

 

“Almost?” Hotch asked.

 

“The gene is in the same place but it’s not the same code.”

 

“Spit it out, kid. We don’t have time for beating around the bush.”

 

The nurse looked between the two of them, wondering if it was truly a good idea.

 

“You’re both Alpha. Not Omega.”

 

 

 

 

 

“Synthetic subservience!” The masked man stood on the stage and showed the phial. The small, but well-connected crowd.

 

“From the mountains of harmony, and refined in a laboratory, synthetic heat and want. Have the perfect pet in mind? Synthetic S. Want to knot and breed your bitch? Synthetic S.

 

“You’ve seen it tested in New York, Minneapolis and Edinburgh. Now refined specifically to give that special someone,” the man paused for drama, watching the other men leaning forward before he winked. “And yourself the happily ever after you desire. A true mating. Alpha and Omega.”

 

He left the phial on the display stool and stepped to the side.

 

“We have one last test for you all,” The man stood with one hand pressed to a popped out hip. A young boy was thrown onto stage, looking lost and suddenly very scared.

 

“Tested and proven to become an Omega, ready to be shown his new world and be knotted by one of you strong Alphas.

 

Another man, also hidden by a mask quickly grabbed the boy by the wrist and shoved a needle under his skin, emptying what had to be the contents of the phial.

 

The men in the room leaned forward again, almost begging as the look on the boys’ face turned from pain to heat to searching the crowd for something he needs.

 

“Here’s a wanting pet looking for YOU.”

 

He stroked a finger down the boys neck and over the scent glands forming beneath the skin.

 

“Can I start the bidding at five?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry that this took two weeks to post. I have been going back and forward between this chapter and another that I have written that could have taken the story in two different directions. IT's been a massive pain in the ass, TBH. I am back at work and last week was brutal. but I am going to be writing and sending the chapters off to my delicious beta Mim so she can tell me I suck but I'll post the chapters anyway. 
> 
> There is also a one shot in progress that is semi related to this. Plus some other fandom stuff appearing soon. I just.....You'll have seen why it took so long to decide. 
> 
> Hugs for you all.


	11. It takes two

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> All the boys learn a little more about themselves and eachother.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As a warning for the coming chapters: I am not American. I have bare bones knowledge of these places from either having been there or smart use of google. If there are any inaccuracies, please contact me, I'd love to know. (I am planning on doing the holiday thing in the next few months) 
> 
> For the excuses as to why this took so long, please read the notes at the end.

_Great thoughts only speak to the thoughtful mind. But great actions speak to all mankind._

**Emily P. Bissell**

“In the last week there have been five in Oregon, six in Nevada, another eighteen in Minnesota and almost one hundred in California,” Rossi explained to the full team table. Each of them nodded in turn, waiting for the next piece of information to fully complete the thoughts lingering on the tip of their tongues.

 “Each of the children came in presenting as Omegas, but as the toxin moved through their system they have become betas.”

 “So what does it mean?” Morgan asked, giving voice to what everyone was thinking. It was that moment that Reid took his moment and stood, hands resting on the heavy table as if to balance him from some great weight on his shoulders.

 “It means they’re being discarded. They’re not _true_ Omega, so they’re reverting to what they would be if the three gender system were the norm,” He explained, eyes flicking to everyone except Hotch and Rossi; and they could tell.

 “So child trafficking has taken on drug abuse to try and create these artificial genders? What’s so important about being omega?” Prentiss asked, before shooting Reid an apologetic wince at her words. Spencer held up a hand to prevent the words spilling across the table.

 “Omega are…”

 “Omega are subservient,” Hotch spoke before he could even stop and think of the words he was saying. His eyes burned into Reid, forcing him to look right back. A challenge inaudible but obvious to everyone.

 “They are weaker and demand protection from an Alpha. They would do anything for praise, including not making a sound as they were raped brutally because they are _made_ for it,” Hotch finished, leaning imperceptibly forward.

 “They are NOT weak,” Reid spat back, not wanting to fulfil what his body ached to do. “That is just the stereotype written into fanfiction about them. If anything, it is the Alpha that cannot be without the Omega, and all dominant personality types have a need to be an Alpha but are unwilling to change themselves.”

 The rest of the room held their collective breaths, not sure what to say or do and stunned into their silence by the tension between their two friends. 

 “Maybe because they don’t _need_ to change,” Hotch began, voice lowered and almost through clenched teeth. He would have added more were it not for the commanding hand on his shoulder from Rossi and the quick removal of the two of them from the situation.

 Reid’s shoulders fell the instant the two of them were gone, as if the tension had snapped and reality had been replaced.

 “What was that?” JJ asked, offering a comforting arm around Reid, trying to stand him upright.

 “Weird, that’s what,” Prentiss replied for him, looking through the door to where Rossi had finally pushed Hotch into his office. Anyone who looked could see the two of them were yelling at each other, but anger was more frustration and the fight was leaving them both.

 “You okay, Reid?” Morgan asked, trying to catch those wide eyes with his own. The moment he did the last of the tension left.

 “I’ll be better when we catch the people who did this. The Alpha woman…..and the other man.”

 Reid left before his friends could ask him more questions, and managed to sneak away unstopped until he sat inside the train.

 

  

“Would you kindly like to tell me what that was?” Rossi asked, clicking the door into place and folding the shades over just enough to obscure their lips.

 Hotch, the moment he was free, was pacing both in his mind and behind his desk. The words echoed in his head, spoken by something not himself and he knew it.

 “That was….”

 “Unprofessional,” Hotch finished for him. “And uncalled for.”

 “I was going to say a challenge. To him. Aaron...Just because you’ve discovered you’re an Alpha doesn’t mean you have to change how you act around him or anyone.”

 “You think I did it deliberately?” Hotch asked, dark eyes clear in almost panic.

 “Didn’t you?” The retort came, typical snide smirk of his oldest friend placed so carelessly on those lips but it still had the same meaning.

 “We’re both Alphas, Dave,” He finally sat in the chair and placed his head in his hands. “How come you’re not reacting the way you should?”

 “You mean the way wolves do in a pack?” He asked, taking his designated seat on the opposite side of the table. He crossed his legs and leaned back, completely open.

 “Some things are stronger than _what_ you are. You have to remember _who_ you are and build from that. I’m your friend. I’m Spencer’s friend. But you want to be something… _more_ with Spencer and I think _what_ you are may have tried to force the issue that _who_ you are is avoiding.”

 Hotch looked up at that last part, just barely over his fingertips. The smirk on the other’s face had grown wider.

 “And what am I avoiding? That the Alpha side of me is trying to call to my attention?”

 “You like him. Like you liked Hayley in the beginning.”

 “I’m not a fifteen year old boy, Dave.”

 “No,” Rossi admitted, nodding before he stood. “You’re a grown man. And so is he. When was the last time you went on a date?”

 David Rossi was not only an Alpha, but a know it all.

 

….And he was right.

 

 

 The subtle scent of vanilla tickled the edge of his senses. The hydraulic hiss of the doors opening and the metallic thud of them closing once again. He’d been riding the green line long enough that he’d drifted; not asleep, because he never could sleep on a train, but not awake either.

 But that smell….

 Something from a dream he’d thought he’d forgotten. Like some scent clung to fabric decades old and able to take you back to that memory like it was existing now. IT was intoxicating, familiar and worse: paralysing.

 “I knew it was you. Shh. No. Don’t open your eyes, just listen,” The woman’s voice was cloying, like muck over the top of the flowers she smelled of. But he couldn’t speak. He couldn’t move, all he could do was listen, as if the words themselves were laced with potent anaesthetic.

 “In two stations, the train will stop. You will change to the Orange line and get off at Landover. There waiting is a blue sedan with no plates. Get in… And don’t speak to anyone until you arrive at the house. Nod if you understand.”

 He didn’t want to, but Reid nodded before swallowing dryly. He couldn’t stop himself, despite screaming at his limbs to move or his brain to move his mouth.

 “Good,” She whispered as the pulled into the next station. And just as quickly as she came, she was gone. Reid sprang to his feet, searching the crowd as they got on and off the carriage, trying to spot the body that went with the voice. But she could have been anyone, and going anywhere.

 As his station pulled up, he followed the instructions planted in him like a hypnotist suggestion and found the blue sedan without the plates. Non-descript, and almost invisible to anyone except the people looking for it. Something that he was sure even the myriad of cameras would be unable to locate immediately.

 He opened the door as if it was always his intended ride, and stepped inside without a second word. He was still for the journey, but in the back of his mind he could hear the mud-honey words of the woman cooing.

  _Good Omega._

 

  Garcia almost tripped on her feet as she came in with the map and put it up on the board, putting pins at each of the hospitals the children were appearing at. There was a pattern. A distinct movement and almost exponential growth.

 “Calm down, baby girl. Breathe,” Morgan chided with an obvious smile in his voice despite the seriousness. It did little to ease the blonde woman’s nerves. SHE was the one with all the data after all.

 “What are we looking at?” Asked JJ, trying to make sense of the pins and string and dates and numbers.

 Garcia looked at the three agents in front of her, then back at the map now brightly coloured on the wall behind her.

 “Less than 1% of all of those infected have become omega. And off that 1% all of them have been women,” she began, making sure everyone was on the same page. “We also know the attacks have been worldwide. England and Australia are experiencing the same level of outbreak per capita as we are here, like a virus.”

 “We’re with you so far, sweetheart. Keep going,” Morgan encouraged while Emily and JJ continued to process and analyse every word the other woman spoke.

 “Well….each new attack infects more people. They’re infecting schools….and airports. There’s a pattern to it. California has the most cases because it was released in all four airports Melbourne, Sydney, Los Angeles and San Francisco. They cross contaminated eachother!”

 “Keep going.”

 “Well….this means that there’s more than one person doing this. Well…there’s one person in America and another travelling the world and I think they’re back now. The last attack happened at Dallas Airport,” Garcia pointed at the map, almost desperate.

 “So what does that mean?” JJ asked, waiting for the punchline.

 “I know where they’ll attack next,” She finished, the bounce out of her body as her face fell. All the joy had been sucked from her and the room in that heartbeat.

 “They’ll go to New York first…..And then here. If they’re not here already.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know a million and one of you have been waiting patiently for this. And I do apologise for taking so long. I'm going to make this the quick version of whats been happening since April so you can at least try and understand.
> 
> -Girlfriend told me she hated this. And I wasn't actually going to keep writing it.  
> -Work became a bitch, and I had to move from my home.  
> -Work forced me to resign, so I had to move country.  
> -Had to find new work in new old country.  
> -Stopped writing completely between depression and moving. 
> 
> But! I have three awesome friends whose opinion I value as much as I do my girlfriend's, so this chapter is dedicated to them.  
> Roki, Kitten and Mimness....you are why I am writing again
> 
> Now, I actually have more than this chapter written, so for christmas, then again on new year, you will have new chapters. I'm not one of those review whoring writers, but I also want to thank those who left reviews and kudos; you actually reminded me I had this and let my little Reidy muse speak up.
> 
> So thank YOU as well.
> 
> TL;DR  
> Life sucked.  
> I'm writing shit again.


	12. Line in the Sand

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> She has come for him, and she's not going to let him go.

_The line dividing good and evil cuts through the heart of every human being. And who is willing to destroy a piece of their own heart?_

**Alexandr Solzhenitsyn**

 

 

 

“Morgan. You, JJ and Emily need to go to New York. Rossi and I will follow up on the Washington connection.”

The simple order was enough to make them all jump to work. No argument, they could work with the local LEOs and sort what they needed out to try and prevent the next attack. He needed to stay here, to cover the Washington angle, to cover the missing Reid angle.

He vowed it wouldn’t happen again, and yet here it was, happening again. And he needed his friend, the only other person who really understood, at his side.

They’d all done the blood tests. In fact with the pandemic that was the third gender change, everyone was being tested. Only those who were truly rural were untouched by now, almost everyone in the city was a beta carrier or were part of the 11% Alpha and Omega. And so far Reid was still the only true male Omega.

That’s why he was taken, Hotch knew it. And as he thought about it, the tension rose, the urge to kill something grew with it. To rip it apart with his hands and teeth in order to save his ma—

“Penny for your thoughts?” Rossi interrupted, almost amused by what he was seeing. Unlike Aaron, Rossi had taken to reading all the information prepared by Reid based on his own condition and prepared him for what the third gender had in store.

Higher reasoning sometimes went out the window, especially when it came to ones mate. And Dave had no doubt, given the looks and thoughts and even that damned scent as it passed between them, that they were meant to be together like this.

There were perks to being an alpha. Pheromones. Heightened smell. Heightened hearing. A deeper well of strength and stamina. There’s the potential for suggestion that, as Reid’s report put it, was coined as the “Alpha voice” in fanfiction, that could control an Omega for short periods of time.

But coupled with these strengths was am inherent weakness to 1% of the changed population. While the Alpha thinks they have power, it’s the Omega that makes the Alpha lose control. And that control was slipping from the usually uptight, perfectly statured and proper head of the BAU.  
  
Rossi could see the fight in Hotch to regain the lost control. The rising anger, the rising need to be back in control even as it spiralled out of his grasp. Most of the time it was hard to see his friends’ feelings, but now they were on his sleeve and acting like a backhand to the face.

“Reid’s out there. He’s smart. He’s safe. And we will find him.”

Aaron Hotchner tightened his jaw, and his fists. The smell about him was fierce.

“You will find him, Aaron.”

 

 

Spencer felt like he was floating. The walls were baby blue, pastel with pink threaded through them. White fluff sponged onto the perfect sky background. Part of his mind wandered, wondering if the sky was the same outside

The orange couch was worn and smelled of pet, probably dog, that had been wet and groomed itself. A dollhouse, an old one, potentially a facsimile of the house he was in lay open in the corner of the room. Sunlight made beams in the dust through the sick lavender curtains; one of those beams had been crossing his lap now for half an hour.

Beyond the room he could smell meat cooking on a barbecue, and hear the sounds of birds in the trees. It was still morning, that much he could tell just from the ambience. But how long exactly had he been sitting there in that same spot after being told to?

He closed his eyes again, taking a deep breath and focusing on his toes like he’d been taught to. He tried to feel the blood there, force his foot to move. He got a little excited when his toe twitched on command. He then tried the same with his fingers.

If he could break this spell….  
  
“My little Omega,” She cooed from the doorway, leaning against the frame. Her lips were painted a sticky red, her hair turned up, black and with a bow like the pinups of ages past. Her gingham dress clung to the rolls of her overweight shape worse than the stench with the vanilla undercurrents.

“So well behaved. So perfectly accepting my orders,” She moved to him, sitting beside him. One hand moved straight to his lap, manicured in the same off-red as her lips and long. Fake.  Her other hand carded through his hair and part of him leaned into it.

No. He wasn’t this. He wasn’t a pet. Not before with Tobias, not again with this woman. His stomach turned as he looked anywhere but at her.

“Don’t be so sour,” She whispered, stroking the fingers from his hair down his cheek, making him look at her. Her eyes were a deep brown. Plain. Boring. But burning with the control of what he knew to be an Alpha.

“I made you here. In these walls. A happy accident. You and me….Alpha and Omega. But you ran away before you could have your second dose. I saved it for you.”

If his stomach hadn’t already turned, it would have a second time. He had a million and one questions for her, and the usual snarky comments and infinite well of knowledge still seemed held back like his brain was caught in plastic wrap. They could see out, but couldn’t get past the invisible guard.

“My husband will be home soon,” She continued, as if called to by the look in his eyes. “And where I can’t mate you the way your body craves, he will.  But first we have to make your body ready….”

With surprising speed and strength she grabbed Reid’s jaw by the chin and opened that mouth wide. Pouring in the contents of a phial previously held in a freezer down his waiting throat. He tried to hold it at the back , breathing hard through his nose like he’d seen once in a Harrison Ford movie, but with one word it all changed again.

“Swallow,” She whispered, though it felt as if the word itself reverberated as it hit his ears. His throat moved involuntarily, taking down the over-cold liquid before he finally managed to pull his head away from her hand.

“Good boy. I’ll treat you so well, you know. You’ll have a knot in you, and you’ll belong to your Alpha. And you’ll want it. You’ll want nothing else. You already obey so…perfectly.”

His stomach flipped again, and he leaned back on the couch, exposing a little more skin than he intended. He did feel an unnatural comfort having her so close. And her breath on his neck sent chills down his spine that spread outward as goose bumps across his skin.

“You can move around but you’re not to leave the house until my Husband returns. Two Alphas, one Omega…”

Spencer so desperately wanted to ask her questions, but at the same time really just wanted her to go away….

…Or move closer.

 

He took the options into his own hands and stood, his legs aching for the time without use and sat still for so long, brushing past the woman and into the rest of the house.

The bathroom was his first stop. The fluorescent light bounced sickly off the lime green tile and brown borders. A single mirror hung above the brown toilet and the small sink to his left made the space look even more claustrophobic.  Behind the door was a single shower that looked like it had seen better days. The tile glue was showing in places where the tiles had broken or fallen from the wall, making this seem more like a rest stop than a house bathroom.

Maybe the dollhouse was for somewhere else?

Reid looked at himself in the mirror, noting the circles under his lashes. There were no bruises, but there were two new lumps under the glands on his neck. With a poke he found them solid, but moving, and hotter than the rest of his skin.

Splashing water on his face, he turned back and left the bathroom, simply investigating the house he’d been given free rein to.

The kitchen called him next as his stomach growled from inattention. He searched for it and quickly plucked fruit from a bowl and ate it without really looking at it. The walls were covered in the same grimy lime tiles popular in the 70’s with a countertop in a pastel shade that he might have thought originally matched.

As he finished the apple, he tossed it in the bin and shoved his hands into his pockets. The less he touched the better, he thought, while he looked for the little indications that there was some kind of escape.

There was the door, which he tried to approach but turned himself away. There were windows that were barred from the outside. A basement that he was curious to see whether or not it was like every other serial killer’s basement.

The basement door was caked with cracking paint, probably lead, and was left ajar. He had no idea where the woman had gone, and there had been no indication so far as to who she was left in the house. He opened the door with the toe of his shoe and looked over the threshold like one would over a cliff.

He stepped over, the boards creaking under what little weight he had as he made his way down. It was lighter than he imagined it would be, the windows missing from the house were all along one wall down here. So perhaps less of a basement and more of a sublevel in the house? Beyond the windows were fields of dairy cows and close to the house simple roses.

There was a bed in the middle of the level, the paint on the walls in here was subtle. The room itself did not echo the neglect that the rest of the house offered. The curtains were sheer and tied neatly off to the side, and in the middle a beautifully ornate set of double French doors.

Once upon a time he’d dreamed of such a place. He’d written it in a book and buried it along with the rest of his childhood. This time he did touch. Reid’s long fingers feeling every texture nuance between the smooth of the desk to the warm of the bed covers. The carpet under his shoes and the spring as he stepped forward.

But one more step turned into more of a pitch as it felt as if he’d been hit from behind. He landed hard on his knees and his arm held most of his weight upright on the bed. The pain was sudden, and moved from his lower back to his belly in a moment.

The unknown attacker was also invisible. As he fumbled for a weapon, _any_ weapon he scanned the room and any reflective surface for a shadow or a person. There was no one.

Reid felt rather than heard the cry escape from his lips. The world pitched to the side and spun as his vision filled with blue-green aura.  

“Well, well,” She said smiling as she appeared in the doorway. “My little omega found his nest. And just in time….”

“In time for what?” Spencer managed to ask, pulling him back to his feet, though his body instantly regretted it.

“The serum I created is a masterpiece. Everything I ever read in those stories, everything I have ever loved about them I can make come true. And I have. In me and you. Although, I was hoping it would be the other way around."

Sweat gathered at the small of his back and lower, layers of it, adding. Reid’s body was suddenly hot and cold at the same time, but as quickly as it started it stopped.

“Your body is preparing itself again. It’s been….three months? Since your first infection and heat? It’s about to come again. This time, your body will be fertile. It’s already calling for its mate. Can’t you smell it? Vanilla. My favourite.”

Spencer snapped his gaze properly to her, his eyes wide.

“You have 12 hours. At most. Enjoy them while you can.”

She went upstairs again, closing the door behind her but not locking it. The moment he was alone, what little he had in his stomach he brought back up into a small waste basket beside the bed.

His hand stayed back, moving his boxers out of the way. Reid couldn’t believe he was doing this, but scientific curiosity was winning out over modesty. Fingers barely dipped before they came back out.

Slick.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this is a little late, but here it is as promised. Hopefully, you're not so grumpy with me when you see the now [connecting story/oneshot thing.](http://archiveofourown.org/works/9079249)


	13. Lost and Found

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> All the pieces are slipping into place.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know I've kept you hanging a while. But I hope this starts to make it up to you. I've been trying to write (a few chapters ahead) the actual scene where Reid and Hotch come together to get it perfect and it's being more difficult because the boys are so bloody stubborn. 
> 
> Again, as a warning, I am using google and research using friends and touristy knowledge of America. The people are fictional, obviously....but the places are....real in name only. Enjoy~

_No one can make you feel inferior without your consent._

**Eleanor Roosevelt**

 

 

“You’re all nothing,” he screamed at the two way mirror. He paced up and down in some pretence that he was something more. “Beta scum. You won’t hold me.”

His name was Daniel Gibson; a 40 year old biochemist who used to work in a Washington lab. His once perfect black hair had started to fleck with silver while his sporadic dishevelled beard was more white than black down his jaw.

It was pure accident that they’d really found him.  Standing alone and non-descript, almost undercover police-like while he set his bag down and stood beside it as he looked at but did not see the very expensive alcohol he’d picked up in the duty free.

Prentiss had watched with a jealous eye as a flawlessly natural and attractive woman approached him and smiled with a gentle curl to her lips, only to screw her nose and stomp away in response to the words whispered to her by Gibson.

He had opened his bag, and Prentiss had thought he meant to put the bottle into it until she saw him reach to uncap something metallic in his bag. In a flash she had identified herself, tackled him to the ground and had her knee in the middle of his back as he fought against her and some uniformed officers as they cuffed him and took him away.

“Well,” Emily began, cocking a brow and turning her gaze from the ranting man. “He’s certainly got a way with words.”

Morgan folded his arms across his chest, teeth gnashing against one another as he considered what to say next. Reid was still missing; Hotch and Rossi were yet to update them on that. But if this man could lead them to Reid…

“He hasn’t said anything we can use,” JJ replied, still trying to figure out if there was something more than just genetics that made him an Alpha. She couldn’t smell anything or really see any difference between him and Morgan. Or any similarities between him and Hotch, both being Alphas. He just seemed so normal, at least physically. He was just like any other UNSUB: damaged to the point of no return.

Prentiss brushed her fingers gently on Morgan’s shoulder, trying to get his attention. When she was sure she had it she gave him a sympathetic look, but one that also said “I know what you’re thinking, and no, it’s a bad idea.”

“Has someone contacted Hotch to let him know we have him?” the blonde asked, breaking the moment between Emily and Morgan. Derek was the first to lift his gaze to her before pulling out his phone.

“I’ll try again now,” He muttered, excusing himself from the small observation room and into the corridor.

“What was that about?”

Prentiss was glad of both the makeup and the darkness in the room, hiding the small tint of embarrassment as it prickled at her cheeks and down her neck.

“Morgan wants to let him go so he’ll lead us to Reid.”

The silence that bit into the room was deafening for several heartbeats until Gibson pound both his fists against the mirror causing both the girls to jump.

“If he runs, we could shoot him?” JJ added, smiling and earning one on Emily’s face in return.

 _That_ sounded like a fantastic idea.

 

 

The walls were melting.

Each time he opened his eyes, everything but the bedspread would drip and swirl and become one colour. The clock that was so casually ticking along somewhere in the room was now almost too loud and reverberating in the back of his skull and forcing his mind to accept that time was getting away from him.

_Focus._

Hotch’s voice came to him as if from nowhere, the room in a blink returning to normal with such a surreal quickness Reid wondered if he was in a dream. The heat from the fever felt different this time. Lots of things about this felt different and wrong and kept him on the wrong side of nauseous and anxious.

_You can do this, Spencer. Get up._

As he rolled into a sitting position, his stomach kept rolling. He swallowed, eyes closed and hands fisting in the cotton beneath him.

“Get up, Reid,” Spencer uttered to himself, one deep breath after another until he counted to ten. His toes slipped deep into the soft red loop pile like they do to his well-worn leather shoes and Reid couldn’t help a wriggle.

Every little touch of something soft, or something with a texture that was even the smallest part tangible. Something that he recognised and could focus on under his fingers and keep his grasp on reality clear through the murk of whatever it was now shutting down his brain.

_But you know what it is, don’t you Omega?_

The voice in his head for a moment swapped from the strength of Hotch to the degradation of the Alpha Woman. Reid stopped and considered that for a moment: the _Alpha_ woman. Had she not told him her name simply so he would have to call her Alpha, like some sick twisted pet?

Typical pseudo dominant personality.

_That’s it, Spencer. Use your brain._

Reid smiled to himself at hearing Hotchner back in his mind. There was even the smallest pleased thrill that settled in his chest through a heart flutter at the praise he got. And he could imagine so clearly in that moment the gun-roughed pads of his boss’ fingertips stroking, just barely, across exposed skin trying to elicit a reaction after that praise.

He stood up, refusing to let himself use anything beside him to keep upright. This was not going to beat him, and she was not going to win.

He had to get out of here.

Naturally the first thought was to try the two large ornate doors that opened his _nest_ to the outside world. He didn’t expect them to be open, or indeed openable; so he was unsurprised when the handles didn’t even rotate enough to be considered anything other than decorative. The windows were the same, barely opening wide enough to breathe in the fresh air outside.

Turning, and leaning a moment against those doors he eyed up the stairs. There was a chance the woman was still up there, as he had not heard a car engine. Then again, he’d been wavering in and out of inattention that anything could have happened in the moments between.

The movements were almost unconscious, another of those inattentive moments, because between one thought and the next he was standing with one foot on the bottom step and a hand on the railing, meaning to head back up to the main house.

The light was different than it was in the sub level; less pure and dirtier than he remembered from his first visit here. The couch still torn now looked like a cow hide marred with scars and a new scattering of bile coloured cushions did nothing to improve the décor.

His careful eyes scanned the room, taking note of all the things that had moved compared to his earlier memories. A smaller set of shoes stood by the door, the rain boots that were caked in mud now missing and leaving a tell-tale ring of dirt from where they were. Perhaps the shoes belonged to the husband, the other Alpha.

He didn’t care to find out, instead heading for the door.

_Leave, Reid. Come back to us._

Hotch’s order echoed in Reid’s mind as long fingers turned the handle, and his breath held unconsciously as he pulled it open, letting fresh air and light into the dilapidated house.

The hinges screamed against the motion, earning a wince only for a moment before he took his first steps to what he thought was freedom. The power that had taken over and blocked his mind seemed to be flexing like an elastic band being pulled open. He only hoped that when it snapped, he was free enough to not return to this place.

Only, it did snap, but not in the way that he imagined. Across the breeze that had picked up and played carelessly with his hair a small, frightened voice caught his attention.

“Please….don’t leave me here.”

 

Penelope Garcia was not particularly content with the mission she had set herself on. In fact, it made her sick to her stomach every time she had to consider the worst of humanity and their actions. But she was here every day, helping her friends to stop these lowlifes as best as they could.

This particular day was simply more important because her sweet baby Reid was the one taken, even though it seemed to be on his own volition. She’d searched hundreds of video hours, looking for him in there, and then tracked his movements. She’d correlated and searched and reviewed for almost 20 hours and now she had something that they could use.

Hotch and Rossi each had their own copies of the pictures as she put them one by one on the screen for them to see.

“This woman appears in several photos taken from security cameras all over the city. I traced her back from the train camera where she spoke to Spe—Doctor Reid and she first appears here, over the 14th Street bridge in the same car that took him.”

She pressed her remote control button, flicking to the next important photo.

“This was taken a week ago, the same car, the same woman,” she continued, fumbling with the device in her hands and dropping it. She hadn’t even noticed that the photo had zoomed in.

“There’s a child in the back. And a school logo. Have you traced the school?” Rossi asked, all business, and all in control to stop the brooding Hotch from snapping at the woman. The reassuring smile was enough for Garcia to continue, fishing her glasses and bringing up two more files on the screen.

“It’s a Montessori school in,” she zoomed into a map, “Nokesville, 50 miles from here. The boy’s name is Tyler Ashwood and he seems to have stopped going to any school at the same time as Doctor Reid was umm….”

What was the correct word for infected and turned into something new and that wouldn’t anger her boss?

“Thank you, Garcia,” Hotch managed, not looking at her, but instead at the photos again on the table in front of him. Reid. He was close, they were both so close to getting him back. The blonde bounced out of the room, her bangles and chains disappearing off into the distance of the BAU office.

“It’s a lead,” Rossi offered. And it was. Same car, same woman. Perhaps the child was her son?

“We’re going to find him. 

“I will find him, Hotch echoed, pulling out his phone to call back the other team.

 

 

Derek Morgan used every inch of his 6 foot height and the sporty bulk to sit the other man back in his seat. He might not have been an Alpha, but he could intimidate with the best of them. This was important, this was about his best friend and another child now in the mix.

He was going to get his answers.

“Tell me again about why you were in New York,” Morgan began, voice low and calm as his jaw flexed and he leaned over the table to cast a shadow over the other.

“I’m a salesman. I was on my way home,” Gibson replied, looking up at him like a feral dog.

“Right. Tell me about Tyler Ashwood.”

Gibson didn’t even bother to hide his surprise at hearing that name, only after the second or two of surprise he smiled wide like all the cards were back in his hands. He knew in that space between frightened and overjoyed his decision would lead him to the death penalty.

“An Omega boy most likely missing my seed from his willing body. The sounds he makes when I knot him are just….” Gibson smirked and kissed the air. “Magnificent.”

Even the girls behind the mirror audibly jumped as Morgan slammed his hands down on the table.

“If he or Spencer are harmed in any way, I will throw the switch myself.”


End file.
